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The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:27 pm
by chiefdanfox
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 10:59 pm
by chiefdanfox
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:25 am
by BBadger
Reminds me of the Trojan Horse in 2011.
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 1:49 pm
by carefactornil
BBadger wrote:Reminds me of the Trojan Horse in 2011.
There's a good reason for that - Dan led that and Anubis. Looks like another great project, big Giger fan.
Let's just hope it isn't filled with spraying acid which is released when it burns!

Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:46 pm
by EspressoDude
Is that a battering ram or the alien very obviously MALE ?
looks like lots of guns to shoot fire ( or confetti

)
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:07 pm
by The Rod
Really fucking cool.
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:58 pm
by chiefdanfox
EspressoDude wrote:Is that a battering ram or the alien very obviously MALE ?
I think the joke is, "Is that a battering ram or are you just happy to see me?" * Note the gaping grin on that thing.*
Yes. on The fire. Confetti? hmm. That would roast a few goats, no?
I want to explore the cannon first used as telescopes, like the tourist scopes one might find at various touristy places. Crude, plastic lenses, in tubes. It might be cool to try to construct some water lenses, using stressed plexi and water sandwiched in between. (unless somebody else has a brilliant idea...) then for the "show" I want them firing, smoke, sparks, burning acid, so I need input on construction/pyro. Ideally I would like them made of cooped wood, like a barrel.
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 9:30 pm
by chiefdanfox
Volunteer sign up.
What I learned:
People volunteered to be camp cooks and gofers, and I did not explore (exploit) that enough!
People volunteered to help clean up (LNT) AND NO ONE SHOWED UP! Lesson: I took it for granted that people knew it was the day after the burn...
Please sign up if you feel inclined. Fire perimeter is HUGE, LNT is H U G E R! Of course there is swag to be had, but I can also offer you dust, heat, filth and a hollow sense of, "Why the hell did I volunteer for this?" kind of feeling.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1O2xvYh ... s/viewform
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:49 pm
by chiefdanfox
The Alien Siege Machine is Another iconic 50' Burning Man structure for 2014, from the same crew who built the Trojan Horse (2011), brought you Anubis (2012) & First Home (2013)! It will be huge, it will roll on logs, it will have operating "cannon" and tank tracks, a rotating turret and a 30' TREE TRUNK FOR A BATTERING RAM! BEHOLD! COWER BEFORE THE MIGHTY ALIEN SIEGE MACHINE!
Back story: We live in a simulation. In a senior thesis sentient simulation in the late 21st century, the late 20th and early 21st centuries are jumbled and fed into the simulated minds of a 10th century population. The resulting response is the Alien Siege Machine. Join us in this simulation of a previously simulated Burning Man!
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:32 am
by BBadger
carefactornil wrote:BBadger wrote:Reminds me of the Trojan Horse in 2011.
There's a good reason for that - Dan led that and Anubis. Looks like another great project, big Giger fan.
Let's just hope it isn't filled with spraying acid which is released when it burns!

Well if that's the case, that's going to be some awesome shit!
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:59 am
by chiefdanfox
I hope so. To be clear, the Trojan Horse was Douglas Bevans creation. I was the construction coordinator and lead carpenter for the Oakland crew that built the horse. Chris Webb was the Project Lead for the Oakland crew, and he doesn't get the credit he deserves. It would not have happened without him. Bill Tubman and his Reno crew built the cart. I had a lot to do with the construction plans (design, redesign), and Dan Swain the project architect made sure it was structurally sound, but the design and the vision was Douglas. Working on the horse inspired me to design and a bunch of the Oakland crew to build Anubis, and now the East Bay Burners wanted me put forth some bad ass design that builds upon our experience with both of those past projects, and their experience last year building First Home, a CORE project. So it is sort of Trojan Horse 2.0, or 3.0 The first design I had was basically a 50' pyramid, because there has never been a pyramid built on the playa!
I redesigned the Alien Siege Machine to look more like a camel or elephant once the theme was announced. It was more of a cat, a steam punk cat. I like this design more. It will not be a smooth plywood icon like the horse or anubis, it will probably have a "shaggy" look, with the skin made from old pallets, like first home, and parts of rough-hewn trees. We have to use new lumber on structural parts, but we want to use as much recycled wood as practicable. It is just harder than shit to model that in Sketchup. I could probably build it quicker. I have a fly through on you tube. This was done quickly this weekend, and I will be updating with the refined design in the next week or so.
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 4:59 pm
by Ugly Dougly
It looks like the alien from Ridley Scott's blockbuster movie.
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:00 pm
by theCryptofishist
Hence the name, I believe...
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:01 pm
by BBadger
Could the head rock like one of those giant oil pumps?
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:44 pm
by GreyCoyote
And lasers coming out of the eyes? Pretty-please?

Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 8:49 pm
by FlyingMonkey
chiefdanfox wrote:Volunteer sign up.
What I learned:
People volunteered to be camp cooks and gofers, and I did not explore (exploit) that enough!
People volunteered to help clean up (LNT) AND NO ONE SHOWED UP! Lesson: I took it for granted that people knew it was the day after the burn...
Please sign up if you feel inclined. Fire perimeter is HUGE, LNT is H U G E R! Of course there is swag to be had, but I can also offer you dust, heat, filth and a hollow sense of, "Why the hell did I volunteer for this?" kind of feeling.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1O2xvYh ... s/viewform
No joke. I remember walking by Anubis the morning after it burned & noticed that the LNT team seemed to be missing. Not sure who's tool box I borrowed but I did manage to fill it pretty full with firework moop. I would love to help out this year doing perimeter & LNT.
Call it OCD but it's like weeding my garden. Once I start de-mooping I can't stop.
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 12:01 am
by chiefdanfox
FlyingMonkey wrote:chiefdanfox wrote:Volunteer sign up.
What I learned:
People volunteered to be camp cooks and gofers, and I did not explore (exploit) that enough!
People volunteered to help clean up (LNT) AND NO ONE SHOWED UP! Lesson: I took it for granted that people knew it was the day after the burn...
Please sign up if you feel inclined. Fire perimeter is HUGE, LNT is H U G E R! Of course there is swag to be had, but I can also offer you dust, heat, filth and a hollow sense of, "Why the hell did I volunteer for this?" kind of feeling.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1O2xvYh ... s/viewform
No joke. I remember walking by Anubis the morning after it burned & noticed that the LNT team seemed to be missing. Not sure who's tool box I borrowed but I did manage to fill it pretty full with firework moop. I would love to help out this year doing perimeter & LNT.
Call it OCD but it's like weeding my garden. Once I start de-mooping I can't stop.
Wow. You are the guy. The singular, devoted participant. I remember you, and yes you filled my tool box. I would be honored to have you on our perimeter team. You presented and represented the best face of participants: Work without praise. I tell your story always. You made my burn. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will always remember you. Cheers.
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 6:43 am
by H.G.Crosby
Wow. You are the guy. The singular, devoted participant. I remember you, and yes you filled my tool box. I would be honored to have you on our perimeter team. You presented and represented the best face of participants: Work without praise. I tell your story always. You made my burn. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will always remember you. Cheers.
THIS.
i would just like to say i wholeheartedly support the notion of "Ring & Run" gifting....
leave the "gift" on their doorstep, ring the bell, run like hell, don't look back...

Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 8:21 am
by burner von braun
chiefdanfox wrote:FlyingMonkey wrote:
No joke. I remember walking by Anubis the morning after it burned & noticed that the LNT team seemed to be missing. Not sure who's tool box I borrowed but I did manage to fill it pretty full with firework moop. I would love to help out this year doing perimeter & LNT.
Call it OCD but it's like weeding my garden. Once I start de-mooping I can't stop.
Wow. You are the guy. The singular, devoted participant. I remember you, and yes you filled my tool box. I would be honored to have you on our perimeter team. You presented and represented the best face of participants: Work without praise. I tell your story always. You made my burn. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will always remember you. Cheers.
*
swoons*
Well done FlyingMonkey!
..and Chiefdanfox, another great project in the making! Thank you for all the work you do to make the event even more monumental!
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 8:56 am
by trilobyte
It's high time we start building the kind of siege engines we'll need to start knocking around on alien worlds... or for aliens to make use of here on Earth...either way, giant siege engines, woohoo! The plans look great!
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 9:02 am
by FlyingMonkey
chiefdanfox wrote:FlyingMonkey wrote:chiefdanfox wrote:Volunteer sign up.
What I learned:
People volunteered to be camp cooks and gofers, and I did not explore (exploit) that enough!
People volunteered to help clean up (LNT) AND NO ONE SHOWED UP! Lesson: I took it for granted that people knew it was the day after the burn...
Please sign up if you feel inclined. Fire perimeter is HUGE, LNT is H U G E R! Of course there is swag to be had, but I can also offer you dust, heat, filth and a hollow sense of, "Why the hell did I volunteer for this?" kind of feeling.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1O2xvYh ... s/viewform
No joke. I remember walking by Anubis the morning after it burned & noticed that the LNT team seemed to be missing. Not sure who's tool box I borrowed but I did manage to fill it pretty full with firework moop. I would love to help out this year doing perimeter & LNT.
Call it OCD but it's like weeding my garden. Once I start de-mooping I can't stop.
Wow. You are the guy. The singular, devoted participant. I remember you, and yes you filled my tool box. I would be honored to have you on our perimeter team. You presented and represented the best face of participants: Work without praise. I tell your story always. You made my burn. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will always remember you. Cheers.
No sir, THANK YOU!
It was the least I could do for the folks that brought us all such an awesome project. It was my pleasure to help out.
I signed up for perimeter & LNT this year so I will see you then.

Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 11:58 am
by chiefdanfox
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 5:10 pm
by EspressoDude
like the 4 tracks instead of 2, but is it a lot more work? what is it going to roll on? whoa, what happened to the battering ram ? ASM needs that, after all it is BurningMAN !
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 6:25 pm
by Morrell
Will the battering ram be used to knock down rival art projects?
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2014 1:17 am
by ZaphodBurner
Yes!! I love this!
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2014 5:17 pm
by chiefdanfox
EspressoDude wrote:like the 4 tracks instead of 2, but is it a lot more work? what is it going to roll on? whoa, what happened to the battering ram ? ASM needs that, after all it is BurningMAN !
Herr Direktor nixed the battering ram and along Jack we all nixed it moving, but we added a nuke in the belly for Slim Pickens joy rides! The field of art is so dense now that we probably could not develop a right of way for the thing. And fraidy-cats are worried about squished hipsters.
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2014 6:39 pm
by trilobyte
I say put it in deep playa and make people pedal for it

That and you'll have all the room you want if you want to have it move. I love the idea of Slim Pickens joy rides, woohoo!
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 9:10 am
by trilobyte
As I read a story about today being the 50th anniversary of Dr. Strangelove, I couldn't help but think about Dan's plans for the Alien Siege Machine.
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 9:31 am
by EspressoDude
That big mushroom cloud may be a challenge for some pyrotechnicians, but it would likely take care of moop issues... all turned to vapor
Re: The Alien Siege Machine
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 11:07 am
by Ugly Dougly
Morrell wrote:Will the battering ram be used to knock down rival art projects?
Obviously.